Imaging three-dimensional myocardial mechanics using navigator-gated volumetric spiral cine DENSE MRI

A navigator-gated 3D spiral cine displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) pulse sequence for imaging 3D myocardial mechanics was developed. In addition, previously described 2D postprocessing algorithms including phase unwrapping, tissue tracking, and strain tensor calculation for the left ventricle (LV) were extended to 3D. These 3D methods were evaluated in five healthy volunteers, using 2D cine DENSE and historical 3D myocardial tagging as reference standards. With an average scan time of 20.5 ± 5.7 min, 3D data sets with a matrix size of 128 × 128 × 22, voxel size of 2.8 × 2.8 × 5.0 mm(3), and temporal resolution of 32 msec were obtained with displacement encoding in three orthogonal directions. Mean values for end-systolic mid-ventricular mid-wall radial, circumferential, and longitudinal strain were 0.33 ± 0.10, -0.17 ± 0.02, and -0.16 ± 0.02, respectively. Transmural strain gradients were detected in the radial and circumferential directions, reflecting high spatial resolution. Good agreement by linear correlation and Bland-Altman analysis was achieved when comparing normal strains measured by 2D and 3D cine DENSE. Also, the 3D strains, twist, and torsion results obtained by 3D cine DENSE were in good agreement with historical values measured by 3D myocardial tagging.